The other life
by drizzlyNovemberInMySoul
Summary: "No!" Peter panted incredulously. "And you didn't feel like sharing? There's a rat in our living room!"
1. Night I

Please excuse all the mistakes, I'm not a native speaker (or help me find one, who enjoys rewriting all my stuff^^)

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><p><strong>The other life<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Night<strong>

Two small tired cries came from the next room. Olivia woke in an instant and crawled out from under the covers. The red numbers from her clock radio on the nightstand blurred in front of her eyes, it read something past five. It was still dark outside and the air in the house smelled fresh, unused. She shivered as the warmth of the bed drained off her limbs. Sliding on her woolen socks over the timber piling in the hall, she had to pause, since her empty stomach complained and her still sleeping circulation was shouting 'Good morning!' by sending colorful dots into her vision. The motion sensor had caught her long ago and made a dim light turn on, which helped her focus. In a rapid motion she pulled open the door to the nursery. It was their deal: Peter was allowed to sleep without any disturbance until 06:30 am and in return he was supposed to have breakfast with the three older ones.

_Of course they had all these questions in their minds. Should anyone expose children to this world anymore? How much protection and care would one be able to provide? Or even and at least the fact to _be _present?_

_Walter barged in, whenever they gave him time to draw breath. He encouraged, urged and begged them. Peter couldn't do different, but wonder each time, why Walter was able to slobber over being a father, since his own father-son-relationship seemed anything, but... or maybe it was admirable. But could he really be eager to face a scenario like this once more?_

Gloria glanced up to her, all sleepy, sitting in her wooden crib. She made a rasping sound and held both hands into the air. The light from the hall barely reached the inside of the room, nevertheless Olivia could tell that the little girl's blond curls stuck out in every direction and her cheeks showed a glaring red. Olivia picked her up and her youngest daughter immediately dug her hot face into her mother's neck.

„Hey", Olivia soothed, „bad dream?" A muffled "hm" could be heard, as always when someone would ask Gloria a question. Olivia had to smile at that and sank onto the small couch next to the crib. Gloria let herself slide down right away until she came to lie on her side. Full of expectation she looked into her mother's eyes.

_Apparently it was much easier for Peter to shake hands with the risks and Olivia suffered from the knowledge of that fact. One evening she was crouched on the sofa just like so many nights before, frustrated with herself, her brows furrowed. Peter had the impression he could see the two worlds hovering over her, how they were trying to catch the right moment, getting ready for the jump, in order to come to some final rest on Olivia's shoulders._

„_We have to rescue _our _world as well, Livia", he said. "The world between you and me." Feeling caught she glanced back at him and permitted one single tear to escape._

"_I don't wanna be the reason...", her voice broke._

"_I know", Peter helped out, trying not to distress her. "Your decision won't change anything between us." He'd sworn it over a thousand times. He knew, she had sought to shield herself from any kind of love for a long, long time now. She was scared to experience loss again, who could blame her really. Rachel, Ella and he himself, even Walter, had formed a constant she could latch onto. But the amount of trust and confidence it asked from her, cost too much and was killing the thought of having even more loved ones. To her it promised trouble instead of happiness. But tonight, she was about to go further._

"_I don't want to live a nihilistic life anymore." Her voice suddenly clear and steady. Peter nodded almost insensible and sat down next to her. After a while she took his hand, a permission for him to __pull her close._

A rattling window and the howl of the wind woke Olivia with a start. Gloria had fallen asleep on her breast and as often, Olivia had dozed off on the sofa herself. When she had put the baby back into its bed and sleeping bag, she scuffled back into the bedroom. Her upper body felt uncomfortably cold, missing the little child cradled against it. It shone 05:53 am into her direction. Two more hours of sleep. Contented she crawled back under the covers until she came to rest against Peter's back. She wrapped one arm around him and he shuddered under her cold hand against his chest. She kissed his neck apologetically and closed her eyes. Those minutes only belonged to them, no matter how many people before had lived through similar corny ideal-world-moments.


	2. Morning

**Chapter 2: Morning**

_The doctors, specialists of Massive Dynamic, had forced the discussion open again as they presented their concerns. Experiments under the influence of heavy drugs, kicks to the abdomen, electroshocks, repeated hospitalization after she had been thrown into some walls, the car accident, which had them declare she wouldn't come back, the jumps between universes - how could anyone think it wouldn't make a difference?_

_About four months all the test results lay outspread on the kitchen table. Nobody felt like stashing or destroying it, as if they were hoping to find a better outcome one morning at breakfast. Olivia did not want to be the reason for Peter to die childless. Neither she wanted to be responsible for a child's death; his child's death. Peter already tried to keep any sorrow away from her, but also for Walter's sake he was not willing to risk the life of this small being._

"Mommy! Would you pleeze by some organic chicken wings today?" Two bony legs landed on top of Olivia's back and she gasped under the pressure, before pulling a blanket over her head.

"Hey! Toby! Get out of here!" Peter had chased his son into the bedroom and now clamped him under one arm in order to keep his end of the bargain: Saving Olivia some more sleep. But the four-year-old was wiry and strong, kept coiling up until Peter had to let go, shouting once more: "I want chicken wings!"

"Out!", Peter hissed again and pointed at the door. Toby started giggling at the sight of his father's barely serious face, but turned and raced into the kitchen's direction. Peter caught sight of the little hill of covers and couldn't do different, but to throw himself onto Olivia as well.

_In the end it had been Ella, who threw a sentence into their cozy togetherness, which granted hope an advantage over fear. By now she was ten years old, a reflected and know-it-all creature; stress to her mother and pleasure to her aunt._

"_That's all there is: _risk_", she had told them full of wisdom. "And if you guys aren't able to give your hope the slightest nudge, you're already lost without hope." Her eyes sparkled at the thought of having a little cousin._

When Olivia felt the air being pushed out of her lungs for the second time this morning, she groaned angrily: "How is Toby supposed to learn from this!"

"He's already disappeared, back to his toast", Peter excused himself.

"He's rather calling on everyone to go on a hunger strike", Olivia mumbled, still muted by the blanket she was buried under. Sometimes she wondered, how Toby was able to develop typical men-qualities considering being the only boy of four children. Full of pride he would explain everyone who'd understand his lisping language, what real men connected and distinguished: "Mowing the lawn, sending Baseballs into the sky (without destroying any birds), having a barbecue and drinking beer!"

In contrast to his older sisters he did not learn much later to babble his first words, but considerably worse. All the "s" and "sh"- sounds hissed through his vocabulary just like he whizzed through the house. While his siblings were painting, tinkering, reading or doing some other kind of quiet activity, Toby always seemed to be a fugitive. And who could blame him, since he always had two older ones breathing down his neck, watching each and every of his steps and leaving comments on everything he was doing. So in the end, it was not really a surprise that he took and filled exactly the one spot that still hadn't been taken. There existed no cupboard, no coat hook, no door frame or stair railing he had not climbed (some only once, before breaking them). He loved playing Baseball, making Peter's chest rise in pride, since his son was "an excellent left handed Batter!" He spooned the head out of his father's beer glasses and waited patiently next to the BBQ for his third steak to be gorged.

And now he had to suffer from his oldest sister's demand: "Only!Organic!Meat!" at home, since she had to watch a gruesome documentary at school about intensive mass animal farming.

"Three cheers to our educational system", Peter had commented, well aware that he would miss meat as much as his son, but Olivia found it to be the minimal dosage of rescuing the world, which they should afford in their current situation. But it hadn't been easy nor cheap to buy organic meat all the time and in Toby's opinion he had to wait all too often to get some chicken wings between his teeth.

Peter pulled the blanket off of Olivia's head and examined her for a moment. Her hair was all messy and her cheeks reddened, her breathing quick and shallow.

_Two weeks later they had come to an agreement. What they had given to the world, was nothing to reclaim. Why should this be the point in time to be too frightened of the things to come? The excitement during the upcoming weeks found its comfort in the fact, that Olivia got pregnant right away. They kept it a secret over the first three months and Walter kept secret that he knew from the very beginning._

„Are you trying to loose consciousness under this blanket of yours?", Peter teased. Olivia shot him a furious glare, then looked at her clock radio and back at him. Peter held up his hands in defense. "Hey, listen! Who was the one – and let me remind you: when it was still dark outside – to push an icy paw against my chest!" Olivia's face changed immediately into guiltiness.

"I thought, you didn't notice", she croaked. Peter's eyelids twitched and for a second he seemed to feel remorse given her tired voice. (Although she could not understand it, he did not envy the fact that she still had to breast feed a baby at night one bit.)

Even with a face that read „Are you okay?" or „What's wrong?", one could step on dangerous terrain concerning Olivia. Sometimes he had to remind himself, that Olivia's detached, stoic way didn't mean, he could not reach her, though the way she demanded forthrightness always and everywhere could drive him nuts, considering it went without saying for her to shut some personal things away. All his life he had read other people, most of the time he stood to benefit from it, even lived from it. To have Olivia's number started a new category in his head.

Those collected experiences taught him not to push it, but to save his concern for later, whenever there would be something concrete to use against her. Olivia, who herself was able to interpret Peter's thoughts correctly most of the time, didn't miss his hesitation and waited tensely if and how he would continue his act.

"You thought wrong", Peter stated. "Anyhow, _I_ am only acting in concern of your well-being." Saying this he clumsily tried to get hold of one of the curtains covering the window next to the bed. "And wanted to spoil you by giving you the chance to enjoy your favorite time of the day." As he then reached out with his other hand as well in order to let some sunshine in, Olivia pushed his already unsteady position over the edge by kicking his upper thigh. With a loud thud he landed on the floor and took the curtains with him. Immediately Olivia covered her face with the blanket again trying to hide her laughter, while Gloria started to bawl. This time loud and wide awake.

"Your responsibility", the voice from under the curtains announced.

_Just before Christmas their little daughter was about to be born, three weeks early. The birth pushed every involved person to their limits. Walter emptied the closed cafeteria's snack machine during that night using Astrid's money and assistance and at the crack of dawn he emptied his stomach into the plant pot next to the reception desk. _

_Olivia started to get cramps four hours after going into labor, which made it impossible for her to relax her abdomen and the insensitive doctor barked at her: "If you wouldn't be so damn frightened, we'd all be able to have a calm birth!" What did he know about fear... or giving birth. Peter catapulted the man to the ground by planting a forceful punch on the guy's chin. Not until six hours later, after another doctor stepped in, some useful relaxing drugs and a makeshift splint for Peter's broken index finger, the newborn came to lie onto Olivia's stomach, who started to cry due to exhaustion and joy not paying attention to all the strangers in the room anymore._

When Olivia followed by Gloria entered the kitchen, Anne was complaining, pulling a suffering face: "I'm full, don't want my bread anymore!"

"Alright, don't panic. We're gonna share: One half for you, one for me", Peter suggested.

"Alright", Anne replied, "but I'm gonna have the smaller half." Peter bit his tongue to stop a cynic comment and cut the toast. Immediately Anne screeched: "That's not the smaller one!", but when Laura announced out of nothing "I'm gonna be a police officer when I grow up" it made Anne's aggravation get stuck in her throat.

„Me too!", she excitedly followed her sister's lead and Toby quickly added a „Me three!" and curiously glanced around, trying to figure out what they've been talking about. So far Laura's career aspiration concerned being a kind of girly vet, a kind of boyish astronaut and a kind of Laura-ish Judo champion.

_The following week was one of the worst of their lives. It is one thing to fear for one's own and another to fear for another one's life. Now they had to worry about this tiny child, which had arisen from Peter's and Olivia's own life, but was already its own. "Unaffected and enhanced by you two at the same time", as Walter was expressing it in total awe._

_Laura came down with Icterus, just like many newborns did. All her relatives, not counting her grandfather, refused to worry too much about it. But on the third day after her birth, she didn't open her eyes anymore, didn't drink and didn't cry anymore. Each time Olivia held the weak child in her arms, she would forget how to breath. Peter tried to carry it often enough. His fear found its expression in spitting at Walter to jump in a lake, when the old man had come up with the ridiculous idea of Icterus-supporting-pampers, a theory that told the story of his own huge anxiety. _

Olivia's heart felt like it had skipped a beat; she didn't like the thought. Peter noticed it immediately.

"It's already five past- everyone get out!", he shouted energetically and his children toddled off to the front door. He himself shouldered his bag and grinned at Olivia.

„Tomorrow she wants to be part of the garbage collection service", he solaced her. Olivia grimaced and picked up Gloria to sit on her hip. Multiple "Byes!" and "Seeyoulaters!" echoed through the house before the door was smashed into its lock.

Olivia pushed Gloria's struggling legs into the highchair and reached for a toast. Toby was still noshing his own, totally determined and concentrated. He savored every minute of the Friday morning, when he was allowed to stay at home and Olivia followed his lead, since she'd never see him this relaxed.

Whether there had been one or four children- it never took them long to catch up with a daily routine. A daily routine, which became a constant, which became a habit. And Astrid of all people, who (a few years back) had declared that the work with Walter and every freak-show-element got normal, was questioning all too fascinated the chaos Olivia and Peter called routine and how they were even able to counter with composure, every time she visited.

_The obstetrician recommended to feed the little girl with spoons of black tea and sugar. Two days later, almost one week after her brith, Laura finally started to drink again, slowly. Up to this point in time she had almost lost half of her weight. One night, when she glanced into the light on the nightstand and wrinkled her tiny forehead in the slightest way, as if she was seriously wondering about something, Olivia broke down in Peter's arms. Both of them had neither slept, nor said a word for a couple of days. Now he knew that the words, thoughts and feelings had been waiting for this moment, this little wink Laura gave the lamp, and therefore life would be capable of going on._


	3. Lunch

**Chapter 3: Lunch**

The days passed by and in the end of a week, sometimes even a month, everything melted into each other as if it had been only one single day. The regularity was to blame; therefore each morning ended in an exactly-on-time-lunch at ten past one when the girls came home from school and a second one at ten to three when Gloria would have gone back to sleep already and Peter arrived to get his meal and finish the rest of the paperwork at home.

_Both of them had a hard time of turning their back on their job. Surely they comforted themselves with the thought of going back into active duty... one day. Though it seemed to be a long road, maybe even a road over Mount Everest, ahead of them. And a lot of things needed to be well secured. They had asked Rachel to be Laura's legal guardian in case anything would happen to them. Olivia planned to stay at home until Laura started kindergarten and also wanted to stick to only doing office work at least until Laura's tenth birthday. Peter comprehended, that Olivia couldn't bear the thought of him risking his life the better part of the month either. But it cost them some nights, arguments and quite an effort until he agreed to support Walter (who still accepted orders from Broyles, but just like Peter had stopped visiting crime scenes) in the lab in the mornings, and to work at home during the afternoons._

Laura was always the first to push open the front door, it was a principle, and immediately she would complain about the food by just smelling it, telling everyone she wouldn't like it, and always ate like there hadn't been any groceries at home for about a week. Olivia wondered at an increasing rate, whether in some special cases children could hit puberty at the age of nine. And the worst part: Anne followed her older sister on so, so many points.

"Mom, I don't like the meat's taste", Anne shouted and accidently spat pieces of noodles all over the dining table.

"Even though it's organic?"

"Anyway."

"Give it to me!", Toby exclaimed excited. "All of it." And right after he burst into tears, since Anne had emptied her whole mouth onto his plate, not feeling guilty a bit. Olivia made a mental note in the category: Things taken too literally, and loaded her weeping son's new plate with another portion. Still busy with her last bite Laura asked almost incomprehensibly: "Can we go out now? I gotta practise and maybe we'll find a purse again and I-"

"Will get a new case?", Olivia asked amused. "Didn't we settle on staying inside the house over the lunch break?"

"Argh, come on!", Laura groaned. "If there's a detective itching to start his work, you can't just give me something like 'Put on your slippers' or 'Be quiet, Gloria's asleep' – that's just not fair."

_Laura was a bright child, pensively, reflected and easy to care for. Already at the age of one she started to trumpet a friendly "Hello!" to each person and animal they met on the street. Though, one day she almost scared her parents to death. They found her standing in an opened window on the second floor of their house. She had bent her whole body outside, holding herself on nothing more but a thin rope, which used to be a flowerpot attachment._

_Olivia and Peter had spent five minutes in the bathroom together, both of them thinking the other one had closed the window. Now their daughter was wavering 50 feet above the ground, and she had just started to totter around on her feet a couple of days ago. Nobody dared to take I step into her direction. If she turned around or they startled her, she might fall._

_After a while she reached back to the window's frame with one hand, looking seriously concentrated and pushed herself away from the rope. When she was already heading back to the floor, using the armchair next to the window, Olivia picked her up into her arms and held her tight in relief._

Doing a perfect imitation of a Velociraptor Toby walked down the stairs, stopped before he reached the last five steps, luffed his head back and forth, growled almost inaudibly and finally jumped to crash onto his father's back. People, who didn't know the signs might think it was something unpredictable, but Peter was more than used to being greeted this way, whenever he returned from work and was about to take off his shoes. He only gave a small cry to reward his son's attack, since he wouldn't want to wake Gloria. He put his rain-soaked jacket onto the (thanks-to-the-boy-)broken coat hook, without paying any attention to Toby anymore, who clung like a monkey to Peter's back all by himself. Laura didn't miss out on her father's homecoming either and cursed as she came to stand on the stairhead. She just had noticed the pouring rain outside.

"Gaaaaaaang-conference!", she shouted through the house and slid down the staircase railing. A lonely cry appeared to be the answer as well as an angry gaze from Olivia.

"Are you drunk?", Anne asked and shuffled downstairs following the others. Gloria's cries grew louder each passing second.

"You're responsibility", Olivia explained. Laura shrugged and turned to get her little sister out of bed.

_Though, apart from these occasional moments, when the heart seemed be able to skip some beats, an unfamiliar untroubled time dawned on Olivia and Peter. They got to know each other in a very different way and had to laugh about the fact, that their relationship had kind of been full of adrenaline up to this point. Walter's satisfied grin drove Peter crazy. His father seemed to develop a whole philosophy on his son's relationship._

"_What you mean to each other, will stay a secret for anyone else. A secret even you will not be fully aware of... " ...and things like that he'd mumble and stumble upon._

_Much faster than they would have thought, Peter and Olivia arranged themselves in their new phase of life. They fell in love with it. And two years later Olivia got pregnant again._

Peter dragged his briefcase over to the dining table and thankfully received his lunch. Olivia took a seat on the other side and clasped her hands around a coffee mug. Her tired eyes gazed down on the wood, but did not focus on something in particular. She looked pale and exhausted. So he hadn't been wrong after all this morning, maybe she was catching a cold. He didn't entertain one single doubt, that her job at home was much harder than his work in the lab or at his desk.

Of course, she'd never go see a doctor. For months she had been limping around the house every now and then, whenever she had driven the car for too long or carried Gloria on some trips (even smaller walks got to her). She refused to accept that her work as an agent had left her with a busted knee, it simply seemed too obvious. She hadn't even reached her forties, where was the point in behaving like a retired invalid? And at the same time she was too proud to suppress the pain and fought vehemently against all the pain-medication-suggestions by Peter Bishop.

Ignorance seemed to be her only medicine, and Peter would have liked to follow that, if it were not for the occasional muffled cries when she tried to climb the stairs or the sleepless nights when she couldn't find a comfortable position for her legs anymore.

"Don't you wanna rest a while?" Peter's all-over-face-grin disarmed her, but the fact he didn't care how much she hated to be mothered still got to her. So she just shrugged in response and Peter didn't fail to notice it looked exactly like the shrug Laura had given Olivia before.

"Gloria's awake, break's over", Olivia explained.

"I can take her", Laura said, who again hadn't missed a thing and also had entered the room without making a noise, two qualities no one could beat. "For real, mom. We can't go outside anyway and..." Olivia recognized immediately that something was up in her daughter's mind, but she understood that Laura loved to be the boss.

"Alright", she replied suddenly in a hoarse voice again as if she also agreed to the exhaustion.


	4. Afternoon

**Chapter 4: Afternoon**

_Anne's birth might have been the exact opposite compared to her big sister's. She saw the light of the world on the predicted day without any complications. And even though she was much bigger than their first child had been after birth, Laura suddenly looked like an adult next to the small baby. _

_They were allowed to take Anne home on the same day as the delivery and picked up Walter and Laura for a walk in the park. It was a warm day in July. Peter had brought a blanket and forced Olivia to sit on it in the shade of an oak tree, Anne right next to her in a baby seat. Laura and Walter were jumping around, euphoric. Every now and then they would pause to caress Anne's cheek carefully and gently. On the ride to the park they had complained about each other, discussing who had snored the most last night, and now already had gone back to being bosom buddies._

Of course Olivia hadn't spent the afternoon in bed, but rather used the time to work through some bills and things like that, which couldn't wait. At least it bought her some time for the evening. Usually she'd get to bed around midnight, two hours after Peter.

Still, she felt less exhausted when she entered the kitchen after this children-free-time. She was surprised to find all four of them lined up and arranged according to size. It didn't necessarily need to be something weird, since Laura liked giving her siblings some kind of disciplinary training, (which – now that Olivia thought of it – actually was kind of weird) but additionally Olivia sensed that something was off.

"Toby, where's your other sock?", she asked not missing the tiniest thing.

"In the freeeeezer", he gave back immediately, as if that would be the typical depository. Olivia laughed at that and opened the freezer's door, just for fun. However, she really found a entirely frozen stiff sock inside and turned back to her children, a surprised look on her face.

"How did that happen?", she asked amused. Out of the sudden Laura sank to the ground and Olivia followed her, shocked by the unfamiliar despondency of her daughter. The ice cold sock apparently had pushed her over the edge.

"I lost Gloria", she sighed and Olivia couldn't stop herself from gazing over to her youngest daughter, as if she had to make sure, Laura wasn't talking about an actual situation.

"The bathroom was flooded", Anne added.

"The rat is under our laundry rack", Toby said. Gloria, who most likely felt that it was her turn to add something, sighed deeply, pulled up her shoulders and opened her hands into Olivia's direction. The sign to say "empty" or "gone". Olivia wondered, whether the little girl wanted to express that she had no idea what was going on, which at least matched exactly Olivia's position. All she managed was a weak "What?" as she looked into six pairs of very much relieved eyes.

"It's not bad", Anne tried to calm her.

"Right, because we operated very well", Toby explained, easing the tension a bit.

"Organized", Laura laughed. "Yes, we did."

_As if Anne needed to compensate her gentle start into this world, she would bawl each night for about half an hour over the whole first six months. Nothing could stop her, no one knew of a helpful advice. Only Walter (with a great presence of his unpredictable mind) would put earplugs on every shelf and table in the house, together with neon colored notes that read "Protect your eardrum!"._

_But Olivia kept throwing the stuff away, since it rather got stuck in Laura's nostrils than anywhere else and also she refused to answer Anne's staying power of crying with ignorance and self protection._

_The day she learned to crawl, rather using her stomach as something to slide on than her legs, the intimidating noise stopped at once without any explainable reason just like the act of screaming itself. What remained were small cry-knots in her vocal chords, which gave her a distinctive and hoarse voice, she'd keep all childhood. When she as well had to make room for the next one, she was barely one and a half and just started croaking her first words: "Mama", "Dada", "Auwa" and "Beeby"._

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><p>Sorry for being so short^^ Next one will be the best part, I promise! The birth of Toby goes wrong and requires some super powers^^ – Please review :)<p> 


	5. Evening I

**Thanks for your patience and your sweet reviews.** I** hope I'll find to update soon again. This is my favorite chapter, so enjoy!  
><strong>

**Chapter 5: Evening I**

Around 6:30 p.m., when the noises of the afternoon were muted by a voracity that left the impression the kids hadn't eaten all day, Peter's favorite minutes would come. Now he would take the time to observe this caboodle, _his_ caboodle. Sometimes he wondered what they looked like to strangers. They probably appeared like a motley bunch of people.

Laura resembled Olivia the most. Though her hair was slightly darker, it was long and smooth, always tied back in a knot, since she refused to let anyone cut it, but also didn't want to be disturbed while reading, training or eating... Her green eyes were shaped just as beautiful as her mother's and had the power to put a spell on anybody.

Anne seemed to be the exact opposite and nobody was able to explain what kind of genes had come through with her. She wore her shoulder length black hair open most of the time, held back only by a tiny barrette. In contrast to her siblings she had always had some sense for matching clothes and cute hairstyles. Anything with irreparable holes or stains in it she abandoned. She liked wearing dresses, boots and tiny coats, which made her automatically stand out against all the tattered jeans, muddy rain jackets and worn out sneakers. Just like Toby her eyes were dark, green brown.

Her younger brother had brown hair similar to his father's, which actually was smooth, but always stuck out wildly to all sides no matter if he combed it or not. Toby was incapable of sitting still, so every time Peter hit his son's small ear with the hair clipper and had to stop the process due to concern and pity, he had only managed to cut some strange edges and holes into Toby's fuzzy-head.

And Gloria? Sandy, the only one with Peter's blue eyes and to Walter's pride a head full of curls.

"So, what were you up to today?", Peter finally asked and instantly noticed how Olivia was holding her breath. Laura and Anne stared onto their plates, pretending they didn't hear the question, though their frozen jaws gave them away. Toby, who didn't feel the tension, answered smacking: "Mommy should tell." Olivia gazed over to Laura, who gave a nod and looked thankful for her mother's loyalty. And then the story began.

"As you already know, Laura had been in charge of watching her siblings this afternoon." Olivia paused and Peter knew exactly how much she loved knowing about their children's secret while he didn't. It was more than obvious that she enjoyed the situation tremendously. "It didn't take long and Gloria had disappeared without a trace." Peter raised his eyebrows, intrigued. And just like Olivia had done before he had to convince himself of his youngest daughter's presence, who was noshing blithely and only had eyes for her food.

„After Laura had searched on her own for a while, it occurred to her that it had come to the exact scenario she had wished for this day to happen."

"A _case_", Peter remembered.

"And so her gang came into action", Olivia explained.

"Cause without us, she's like Shaun without sheep", Anne proudly announced and gained applause from Toby's excited expression, as if he just had fully taken in the essentiality of his own existence.

_Toby had been the only to be delivered by C-Section. Almost as early as Laura, since Olivia had slipped on the wooden railway of her daughters. Peter had clutched Olivia's shaking hand to his chest during the ambulance ride, fully aware of the fact that she would never forgive herself, if something had happened to their baby. After arriving at the hospital the nurses immediately fixed her arms and legs to an operation table and pulled up a screen. The loss of control was the worst for her. To actually be completely impassive throughout the delivery made her feel like an abulic creature driven by fate. Even Peter was allowed to take a bigger part in the event than her, was able to move freely, to decide freely, whether to abandon or to comfort her. He never left her side, never broke eye contact, never stopped to hope, even though the pure terror in Olivia's face frightened __him like hell. _

_The little boy didn't cry when he left his mother's womb and his eyes kept close the whole time. Only out of the corner of his eyes Peter watched the nurses dancing hectically around the baby, after they had laid him under an infrared lamp onto an exam table. Peter didn't want to have the edge over Olivia, just kept squeezing her hand and whispered: "He's there." He couldn't imagine how horrible it was not to be able to even feel this happening. Or did she feel it? This swift delivery of 14 minutes – did she actually detect the sudden emptiness inside of her?_

"First of all, Toby filched comfort food for every member from the candy box...", Olivia displayed the progression of the events.

"Tzzz", Peter commented ironically, "on a candy-free-day!" And therefore provoked a speech for the defense from Laura: "Why shouldn't we get any candy today! Comfort food for taking care of children can't possibly be wrong. And how unfair would it be not to share? And anyway, there are no coffee-free-days for adults. Except mom is pregnant, but that would be her own fault!" Peter had to smile at that and shrugged as he looked into his wife's eyes. Approving his daughter's words he stated: "Your responsibility."

Olivia continued obliviously: "However, trying to get to the candy box meant climbing into the freezer, where his socks froze to the bottom."

"My feet even started tingling from the cold!", Toby added.

"When he jumped down again, his sock got stuck and he hit his knee." Toby pulled at his pant leg and revealed full of pride his injured knee.

"You gotta pay more attention, if you gonna keep climbing everywhere", Peter announced after noticing Olivia's worried expression. Toby nodded and replied lost in thought: "Or... I'll climb and you pay attention. It's called a promcomise, Laura told me. It means: You do as I say." Laura grinned sheepishly from ear to ear and Olivia couldn't help but notice that she had seen the same grin-defense on Peter earlier this afternoon. Shaking her head she returned to the story.

_He noticed Olivia's eyelids close in one tired motion and wished more than ever she could get some rest, but when the monitor on the other side of the table suddenly started beeping louder and faster than before, he realized that his wife hadn't closed her eyes on her own terms. A nurse came to stand next to the table-head and ignored Peter's anxious expression. The stranger ruggedly patted her cheek so that Peter had a hard time keeping himself from knocking down another hospital employee._

_Olivia's eyelids flickered under seemingly sheer strenuousness and the nerve-racking beeping grew louder and faster each passing second. Peter jumped down from his stool, cursed, wished for Walter to be present, stared angrily into the inquiring eyes of the doctor that had appeared and finally ducked as the headlights exploded. The still wildly spluttering monitor followed shortly after._

"And a seemingly marginal, but crucial fact: Through the fall he lost some chocolate nuts, which rolled under the fridge." Peter nodded in a meaningful manner and the excitement of the children rose as if they were hearing the adventure for the first time.

"Eventually they got tired of searching", Olivia said in a disbelieving voice, which made Laura snort: "Ya, ya, I know: You would have gone crazy, 'cause of Gloria's disappearance, but it had actually been quite helpful not to panic." Peter automatically remembered the times, when Olivia had been barely able to keep a clear head during some cases in the past. Surely, she did have good reasons, but all to often let herself be deeply connected with all she was: no matter, if it had been anger, fear, sorrow or horror. But seeing her worried about one of their had opened a whole new category of "being deeply connected".

The topic seemed to have touched a sore spot on Toby as well. He shrieked upset: "I think a day without Gloria would be nice for a change!" Gloria briefly looked up at the sound of her name, but immediately returned to her bread with cheese. Becoming a big brother had probably been one of the profoundly changes in the three years of Toby's life. "She's bawling all the time, destroys everything I am building or drools over it, actually doesn't know how to do a thing and the only good side: she has to sit on the plug while we are bathing, since I'm in charge in the bathtub..." Olivia then hurriedly interrupted his list: "Anne suggested to play hide and seek, since that included searching as well." Peter awarded his daughter's idea with an admiring expression.

_Olivia's hand which he hadn't let go of one second, was burning and suddenly it dawned on him, what must have happened. A cry that put his teeth on edge made him flinch, then he heard Olivia gasp and looked down at her. Exhausted she opened her eyes, looking right into his and then gazed over to her son, who was still bawling on the top of his lungs as if somebody had jump started him. Peter's eyes widened in awe as well as in shock as he understood the full extend of the incident. Olivia seemed confused and still frightened, maybe not even aware of what she had done. The relief brought tears to Peter's eyes. Softly he kissed her forehead and then they waited, still in silence, for an update on their son._


	6. Evening II

**Chapter 6: Evening II**

"But while Toby was hiding in the bathroom, he sucked out the strawberry toothpaste and in the process pushed all kinds of bits and bobs into the sink and finally forgot to shut off the water after washing his hands." Toby's cheeks reddened at his mother's narration of the events, but he kept silent. Peter gave Olivia a questioning look and she quickly explained: "Don't get me wrong. The bathroom is as shiny as never before. All three of them together got rid off the small flood from that incident. Which is the most remarkable part of the story." A content smile grew on the faces all around.

"But before that, something happened that none of you would wanna experience!" Anne suddenly added and everyone noticed she had been waiting for this very moment. "When I went down to the basement to hide, I met the rat!"

"That beast!" Peter blurted out, for it hadn't been a week since the rodent got its teeth into his pants when he had tried to take the garbage downstairs. And up to now he hadn't succeeded in catching the harasser.

"Anne raced up the stairs shouting 'rat' like a maniac", Laura told amused.

"There was no time for a longer explanation", Anne excused herself and sounded offended. "It came after me!"

"What did you do with it?" Peter asked, completely tangled up in the story.

"Toby realized something", Olivia continued and her son nodded in response, eyes wide open. "He remembered the chocolate nuts..."

_'An oversized heart' was the first message they got, while someone was still patching up Olivia. And even though the leading physician's serious expression gave away that it meant something bad, Peter felt his heart go out to his son at the statement. He felt strangely connected, as if his own heart had grown over the passed hour._

_Only Peter would attend the tests that followed. Olivia had not only been exceptionally worn out after this third birth, but also could not stand the sight of the newborn being held down by clamps on a metal tray and swinging in the air in order to be x-rayed or as they took blood from a vein on his temple. Toby wouldn't stop crying and in the end one of the doctor's admitted that his alarmed state might have been the reason for his heart to expand. Even though everyone assured that the little boy would have no lasting memories of the painful examinations, Toby screamed at the top of his lungs on every following doctor's appointment as if sent to the slaughter._

"And for real! The rat's been under the kitchen cabinet", Toby spluttered out. "It didn't even notice us, t'been too hungry!"

"So what did you do?", Peter asked again, incapable of adding something else.

"Toby, undaunted by death, put a bucket over its head", Laura explained. "After that we pushed it under the laundry rack. You know, right? Out of sight, out of mind."

_When the small boy finally got some peace in his short life, the beginning of the true family chaos had yet to start. Toby had seen the light of day in February, when Laura came down with scarlet fever and Anne was fighting a stomach flu. When he was asleep, sheets full of puke had to be changed and the water fight from Laura's bowl for inhalation to be cleaned up... day in, night out._

"So where is it now?"

"One guess", Olivia offered and lifted an eyebrow.

"No!" Peter panted incredulously. "And you didn't feel like sharing? There's a _rat_ in our living room!"

"I didn't want to ruin the surprise of this afternoon's adventure for you!"

"You mean like the usual desert?", he snorted, half giggeling.

"It had to happen this way", Laura stated wisely.

"Otherwise we wouldn't have found Gloria", Anne added.

"'Cause she'd crawled underneath the rack, right into the backpack lying there", the older sister explained further.

"And there she probably fell asleep, 'cause she didn't manage to get out anymore or so." And that's how Toby unraveled the mystery. Everyone gazed over to the youngest family member, who still was enjoying her meal with a lot of noises and obviously the only one who had succeeded in filling her stomach this night.

_They hadn't expected Gloria. Up to the third month of her pregnancy Olivia had doubted the possibility and feared for the tiny life inside of her. Peter had played the overconfident optimist, but in reality nothing unsettled him more than Olivia's unsettled state._

_Another C-section would have been difficult, since the placenta blocked the way directly beneath the old scar. But Gloria seemed to prefer an easy birth, the way Anne already had, and waited for a beautiful Sunday morning in October and when the midwife arrived and examined Olivia, who only had experienced some small contractions, she stated: "Either you get in the car and go to the hospital right now, or you're gonna have the baby right here." Peter grabbed the hospital bag, pushed all the kids and Olivia inside the car and called Walter already driving (which made Laura protest "This is illegal!"). 45 minutes later Gloria was already born and Olivia barely experienced any pain. A nurse delivered the news to the joyful pack in the waiting are, which made the children and their grandfather jump out of their seats each time the doors to the maternity ward would open._

There hadn't been five silent minutes, when Toby already opened a new topic: "Daddy, can I watch Harry Potter tonight?" Peter gave Olivia a you-did-allow-this? gaze, but she shook her head and gave a single nod towards the girls. This earned her another so-this-is-what-you-allow-after-a-crazy-afternoon? gaze, but he adored her for being on their children's side.

"Be consequent, or live", Olivia stated innocently and explained in matters of Toby: "Not that I already said _no_..."

"It's a film for when you're six, Toby", Peter repeated for what felt like the hundredth of times. "So, how old are you?"

"Only four", Toby sighed. "I've been three as well one time." He raised his eyebrows and looked at them full of hope.

"Sorry, buddy. Doesn't help", Peter answered with a grin and suggested they could read a story tonight, but a cucumber slice from Toby's angry hand had already made its way across the table and hit his father's chest, which made Olivia send the boy out of the room, since she actually _had_ a consequent side concerning table manners.

"Life is cruel", Laura commented dryly. "Speaking of, my ant died again!"

"I told you that small box would be no good for it", Peter defended himself.

"That's not the point. It's Gloria. She bawls too much, so its eardrums burst", Laura complained.

"That's no cause of death."

"Well", Laura wavered slightly irritated, "my point is: I need a pet with stronger nerves." Olivia let her head drop to the table.

"First you need a mother with stronger nerves", Peter explained, which caused him a kick against his shin from his wife.

"Daddy, did we read a book in which a piglet goes climbing?" Peter turned at Anne with a questioning gaze on face and quickly tried to jump onto the next topic.

"Next to a puddle..." Olivia raised her head again at the odd explanation and found her younger daughter frowning at them as well.

"I have no idea what you're talking about", Peter responded and then shouted at the door where a small knock could be heard: "Come in, we're glad if you wanna join us again." Toby stomped back to his chair, looking miffed.

"Or was it you, mom? On a high mountain?" Anne continued to ask, but when everyone appeared to be clueless she added the next thought: "Did I have a nap today?" Olivia and Peter exchanged an amused look.

"No, but it might have been good for you."


	7. Night II

**Chapter 8 – Night II**

„_No", Laura commented more disappointed each time. „Still no." Walter had tried to distract them by telling stories, but had a hard time keeping his mind of the labor room himself. Every now and then the waves of silence were interrupted by Toby trolling: "It's so awesome, you'll be home soon..." Anne kept busy sorting the toys according to color and size into the shelves and boxes and Laura tried to make sense of the unbearable time span their parents were gone._

"_Maybe mom's still weak and they have to be especially slow... I also hope Daddy's fine, he probably has giant worries."_

"_The worries of a giant?", Walter asked interested, but was only met with his granddaughter's concentrated face. She had missed his point._

"_Sure he is", Anne added. "They like each other. They're married, that proves it."_

"_And all the children", Laura confirmed with pride and sat up straight so nobody would dare to miss her connection to that statement. _

_Just as Walter stomped a frustrated foot to the ground in front of everyone, the buzz of the electric doors could be heard again._

"_It's them! It's them!", Laura shouted and this cue seemed to freeze every family member as they breathlessly watched the parents coming closer, a small bundle in Olivia's arms._

Before everyone went to bed they met to chat away in their parent's big double bed. Even Gloria was allowed to stay, since she had slept through most of the afternoon and it would take some time, before she'd be ready for her crib. Peter had to tell three times, how exactly he'd defeated the rat and even though it had been relatively unspectacular, his children clang to his every word full of pride.

The part, where he had slowly pushed a cardboard underneath the bucket looking pretty much nauseated by it, then carefully picked it up while it started scratching and pattering inside and how it suddenly had given a shriek that set one's teeth on edge and startled him so much that he stumbled back into the laundry rag, which then crashed to the ground dramatically, they'd been able to witness, laughing and giggling all the way through.

Though while Peter had stowed the unwanted visitor in his car, they got ready for bed. Anne and Toby were allowed to decide on its destiny ("Main point: Out of the house!", Olivia demanded), since one had found and the other captured it. It didn't take long to agree on the idea that Walter might be the happiest about the company and Peter found it to be plausible to let his father profit from his children's adventure (and kept secret, what happened to rats in a lab).

"And even though it's been chaotic, it is good", Laura said. "We've been a good gang and worked well together. Just the way I wanna work when I'm grown up." Peter caressed Olivia's cheek. She seemed relaxed and contented now.

A moment later Laura added: "Isn't it strange that I always say 'when I'm grown up' and you always say 'when I was little'?"

"Pretty strange", Olivia nodded. "But you know what?" Laura shook her head._"I think, we're lucky, you wanna be a detective and not an astronaut. Who knows, what kind of an adventure that would have been." _

_Toby mumbled already half asleep: "Daddy, you know, everything's been a little off today. As if the world did a headstand, or as if I had to play baseball with a square ball." And with that he rolled off the bed and disappeared without waiting for an answer._

_"The baby is with them! Mom is carrying it!", Laura blurted out and then asked Peter the question she'd been waiting for weeks to be answered: "So? Is it a boy or a girl?"_

_Peter laughed and replied in the exact same way as each time before: "Yes."_

_Though this time it didn't get him a grunt and rolling eyeballs from his daughter, instead, taking a tiny step, she moved closer to her mother, who had knelt down so everyone could see the small head that appeared under the soft, yellow blanket. And this very movement seemed to give the signal for everyone else to move in as well. Toby chuckled and tried to keep his cries of joy to a minimum, since he knew he was supposed to keep quiet next to the newborn. And he was determined to behave correctly._

_"Her name is Gloria Johanna", Peter said and everyone regarded her a long time and touched her reverentially._

_"Can she sleep in my room tonight?", Silas asked as if it could be the end of a long lonesomeness._

_He apparently had set the signal for everyone to go to bed, so Peter gathered Gloria up in his arms and shooed the big girls out of the room: "If you don't leave now, your mom's going to use her super powers."_

_"Like what?", Anne giggled._

_"Like exploding lamps", Olivia explained with a meaningful glance and observed Anne, who suddenly seemed very interested in the bedside lamp._

_"So we're supposed to believe you guys would willfully brick light bulbs or are you actually trying to give us a hint for a new case?", Laura asked and got Peter to grunt: "Laura, you got a problem for every solution." And then he disappeared to get his youngest child to bed._


End file.
